1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a character display control apparatus suitable for use with, for example, a closed caption decoder.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a closed caption system, character information is superposed within a vertical fly-back period of a video signal. By decoding the character information using a decoder, predetermined characters can be displayed in a superposed relationship with an image.
For example, when characters of "DO" are superposed within a vertical fly-back period of a first frame and characters "G|" are superposed within a fly-back period of a second frame, if the characters are decoded and displayed, then, for example, such an image as shown in FIG. 14 is obtained. In particular, the characters "DOG|" are displayed in a superposed relationship in addition to an original image.
If such video signal is recorded onto a recording medium such as a video disk or a video tape and then reproduced by slow reproduction, then a same frame (or field) is reproduced a plurality of times. For example, if a frame in which the characters "DO" are recorded is reproduced twice, then since the characters of "DO" overlap with each other, if the character information included in a reproduction signal of the recording medium is decoded and displayed as it is, then the characters of "DODOG|" are displayed as seen in FIG. 15.
Thus, in order to eliminate such a situation as described above, it has been proposed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-308620 to stop, during slow reproduction, decoding of character information included in a video signal inputted at the timing when a same frame is reproduced and outputted for the second time. This allows realization preventing a display as seen in FIG. 15 but not preventing a display as seen in FIG. 14.
If this technique is applied to a pause mode, then by putting a recording medium into a pause condition, spelling of characters can be confirmed accurately spending a sufficient time.
However, with the technique disclosed in the document mentioned above, in order to put a display of characters into a pause condition, a recording medium itself must be put into a pause condition, and in this instance, not only a display of characters but also a display of an image are put into a pause condition. Accordingly, the technique disclosed in the document described above has a subject to be solved in that, for example, if an operation for setting a pause condition for confirmation of characters is repeated while a recording medium is being reproduced to study English conversation, then the studying time is increased excessively long.
Further, a reproduction apparatus having a pause function has another subject to be solved in that a display of characters cannot be put into a pause condition.